And now observe him, he
is a great stickler for legal performance; now he will be a good
neighbor, he will pay every man his own, will leave off his
swearing, the ale-house, his sports, and carnal delights; he will
read, pray, talk of scripture, and be a very busy one in religion,
such as it is; now he will please God, and make him amends for all
the wrong he has done him, and will feed him with chapters, and
prayers, and promises, and vows, and a great many more such dainty
dishes as these; persuading himself that now he must be fair for
heaven, and thinks besides that he serveth God as well as any man:
but all this while he is as ignorant of Christ as the stool he sits
on, and no nearer heaven than was the blind Pharisee, only he has
got in a cleaner way to hell than the rest of his neighbors are.
Might not God now cast off this sinner, and cast him out of his
sight? might he not leave him to his own choice, to be deluded by
and to fall in his own righteousness, because he trusts to it and
commits iniquity?
But grace, preventing grace preserves him. It is true, this turn of
the sinner is a turning short of Christ. But,
4. God in this way of the sinner will mercifully follow him, and
show him the shortness of his performances, the emptiness of his
duties, and the uncleanness of his righteousness.
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